CHAPTER 5: Contracted Beasts

“Ace!” Sirius exclaimed and stood up abruptly in shock,

“Ok, stop, it tickles” Lark giggled and started patting Ace’s head,

“Lark, are you ok?” Sirius asked,

“That’s… Is that a Panther?” Orpheus asked with a glint of sparkle on

his eyes,

“This is Sirius’ contracted beast Ace, a black Panther” Cyrus introduced

while removing the panther gently off of Lark’s body and help him up,

“A contracted beast?” Orpheus pondered then said “Oh, I remember, I saw

him with the duke’s soldiers about a month ago, and a big looking bird as well,

they were so cool looking” Orpheus said, and ask if he could pat Ace too.

In his past life Orpheus is also an animal lover, he also wanted a pet

but due to his circumstance he could not have one, when he saw the rabbit

monster he thought it was so docile that he couldn’t help but paly with it from

time to time while they were chatting, but when Ace arrived it was so scared

that it ran away, seeing the panther for the first time in his life he couldn’t

help but wanted to pat him and play with it as well, then as he is caressing

Ace’s chin and neck he ask curiously, “Is it common for a person to have a

contractual beast?”

“No, it’s uncommon to have a contracted beast” Sirius said, “I bonded

with Ace when I was young, because of my unstable magical energy having a

contracted beast helped me to regulate my magical energy and prevents me from

having magical outburst which is dangerous for a young child” he continued,

“Oh, so can I have a contracted beast too?” Orpheus asked in excitement,

“I don’t think so, your resonance is much more complicated, because you

can’t choose a contracted beast they choose you, but only time will tell if you

can have one, you’re your much like me, you have a more stable magical energy so

you can resonate with any type of magical beast so you don’t have to worry

about it,” Lark explained, sensing something is amiss so he asked Cyrus “where

is Apollo?”

Cyrus fell silent and just looked at him silently not knowing how to

explain, suddenly Lark was clawed lightly by Ace on his thigh as if saying

something to him, Lark then said to Ace “can you bring me to him?” in tacit

understanding they followed the panther ahead.

While following the panther the group rode a carriage to the Floras

Beast Reserve, a safe haven for the beast and animals alike who came to the

Kingdom of Floras either seeking for protection or living along with wild

endangered beasts and beast animals used by the Kingdoms Knight Squad. While in

the carriage Lark asked Cyrus what happened to Apollo,

“After coming back from the site of the accident he’s been lethargic and

have been refusing to eat for some time, I manage to barely make him eat just barely

enough to sustain him, I kept on asking him what is wrong but he won’t tell me

at all” Cyrus explained,

“Who’s Apollo?” Orpheus asked,

“Apollo is the Griffon you saw with Ace,” Sirius said,

“Umm, he also gave us this feather to make our charm necklace,” Lark

added,

“So, is he your contracted beast?” Orpheus asked Lark,

“No, I don’t have a contacted beast, even Pewee is not my contracted

beast, he’s a gift from my elder brother on my first day of school when I was

young,” Lark said with a smile,

“A Griffon is a contracted beast solely for the Crown, whoever they

follow and recognized sits on the Throne, as well as the symbol of our Kingdom,

for that is how our kingdoms history is written,” Sirius added,

After a short while t4he arrived at the Floras Beast Reserve, after they

climbed down the carriage, they entered the facility on foot and an entire

group of beasts came rushing to them, a caretaker suddenly exclaimed “they have

gotten free, they just rushed out of their own, quick catch them before they

can cause a stampede!”

The guards who welcomed their group upon entering the facility rushed up

to them and tried to quicky warn them of the situation, in his horror all the

beast who have escaped surrounded their group and pounced on one person. The guard

hurried to them and assess the situation if the young man was not harmed by the

escaped beast, then a loud giggling and laughter was heard around the whole

facility.

“Stop, enough, stop it, it tickles,” Lark keeps on giggling and laughing

as the beasts keeps on licking and pouncing onto him,

“Your Highness, Your Grace” the head caretaker and the guards saluted in

respect then they hurriedly calmed the beast one by one and slowly removed the

bigger beasts who toppled Lark over knocking him to the ground as they were

heavier in size,

“I didn’t know why they all suddenly broke free from their encampment,

but apparently it was the Young Master of the Wilbert house who came to visit

us here, we are so glad to see you up and well Young Master Wilbert” the head

in charge of the reserve said and added “for the last time Young Master please

let us know if you came so we can keep the welcoming party to a minimum”,

“Thank you Captain Darius and I’m sorry for the trouble we caused by coming

here unannounced, I just heard about Apollo so we came over to see him, so please

don’t blame them to much they must have been sad upon hearing the news and

exited when they knew I was coming,” Lark said as he was pulled up by Cyrus of

the ground,

Lark patted the beasts one by one and said to them, “now don’t cause any

more trouble to the captain, I’ll come back and visit you all some other time

to play and introduce you to someone, I hope you all would like him to, he’s a

very nice person and he hopes to get along well with you all,” Lark said as

they continued to walk through the facility passing by some enclosures and

encampments, as some of the animals return to their enclosures one by one.

Orpheus was amused by what is happening in front of him, Sirius was protecting

him closely along the way, and told him not to approach any types of beasts

that didn’t approach him and said, “most of the animals here are wild and

aggressive, so don’t casually approach them on your own”

“Really? But I don’t see them as aggressive thou,” Orpheus said as they

follow behind Lark and Cyrus,

“If you’re talking about what had happen, I could say that Lark has a

high magical resonance, so he could easily resonate with any types of beasts

and animals be it big or small, magical or not, he can easily resonate with

them to a point he could have conversations with them on his own,” Sirius said,

“Wow, I’m envious I wish I could do the same too,” Orpheus said with a

little envy,

“I wouldn’t say you’re not the same thou,” Sirius said as he pointed at

some beast following and approaching them, “there’s quite a variety of beasts

too, there’s a white wolf, some rabbit monster, a falcon, there’s even this

little guy who’s so cautious to humans that it only picks few people to interact

with and you’re the second one it approaches on its own,”

Orpheus reached out his hand to the beast and ask, “what’s the name of

this beast? It’s kind of sweet”

“This is an Ailurus, it used to live on the northern forest which has a

cool and dry temperature, because they are magical beast and have the ability

to detect human emotion it became popular to the nobility centuries ago and

almost have gotten extinct, there are quite a few of them and this one here seeks

refuge here at the reserve not long ago because it’s been hunted by poachers,”

said Darius,

Orpheus fell silent upon hearing the Ailurus’s situation, he remembered an

animal of resemblance to this magical beast on his previous world, it doesn’t

have much difference as to why they are endangered, Orpheus felt sad thinking

about it that the Ailurus suddenly nuzzled his cheeks and slightly tickled his

neck which pulled him out of his thoughts.

“They are quite perceptive it actually noticed your distress for it and

said that it’s alright, it has a lot of friends here at the reserve and now it

has you as its safe haven” Lark said looking back at Orpheus hugging the

Ailurus, he also felt the Ailurus feelings for Orpheus and makes him smile.

“You mean, you can be my contracted beast?” as Orpheus asked then the

Ailurus jumped down from his arms looked back as if saying ‘good bye, see you

again later’ and run off to an enclosure nearby,

“Ahh, huh?” Orpheus was confused, and asked “you said it also wanted me,

but why did it leave?”

Lark laughed and said, “it wanted to be your friend but not a contracted

beast”

Orpheus was dumbfounded and a group of people smiled at him, not long they

arrived at the stables where Apollo resides in its self-isolation.

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